Ok obviously the basic stuff is easy... application, fee, transcripts, GRE scores, references, blablabla. But what is with all this financial aid sh*t! Every school does it differently, and to make it worse, I have no idea about any of that crap to begin with. I've been babied through UG because my parents saved and put away for 4 years of college but going into Grad school I'm on my own.
Someone kill me now.

What state are you in? I assume the school has a Financial Aid office? Are you going to have a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, or anything like that? The aid will vary depending on that. Ex. a Research Assistant at an NJ state U. may not get tuition remission (or whatever it's called where they pay for you), but pay less than 2% in fed and state tax. One teaching assistant I know only gets $750 a semester, but everyone with Fellowships work 40+ hrs a week and have full time classes. They have full tuition remission, though.

I'm in PA and I am going to try to get an assistantship of some sort, but thats what I'm confused about. I was under the assumption I would find out about that at the same time I got accepted, but now some schools say those decisions are made after I'm accepted and decide to go. But a large influence on my decision to go is going to be on if I get an assistantship!
I know I need to sit down with a Financial Aid person at each school, I just wanted to get on here and bitch a little bit first anyway.

Is it Penn State or another state school? At Rutgers, it's the Directors of the programs within the Depts who decide on who gets the Assistantships, and it might be others who decide who gets the Fellowships. (Fellowships are run with a private corp.) That would then get reported to the Financial Aid office.

most schools automatically consider everyone for assistantships, without
you having to fill out a separate form. however, you will need to apply to
FASFA separately if you aren't positive about actually getting an
assistantship. chances are you won't qualify for a grant, but they'll set
you up with a loan (don't expect the best rates). what happens with the
assistantships is that they make an initial round of offers to the top
candidates (usually around march, varies by school). those people then
have til around april 15th to make their decisions and inevitably, some of
the assitantship offers don't get taken. then, they go to their second
choices, etc. you should only commit to a school if you are willing to pay
tuition there. don't assume you'll be given an assistantship, even if they
try to tell you there is a good chance down the road. if you get funding
initially, then that obviously won't be a problem.

I got some merit based help which you should get in the spring with any acceptance letters you get. If you arent getting merit aid or other forms of free aid, dont go to that school unless you want the debt.

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